Off-Earth

Cover art for Off-Earth, showing a cartoon orange planet against a blue-green background, with the title text in white

My first book, Off-Earth: Ethical Questions and Quandaries for Living in Outer Space, explores the all-too-human issues raised by the prospect of settling in outer space. How will we share and protect the space environment? How will we handle conflicts between settlers and with people back on Earth? How will we raise children, celebrate our cultures, make a living, recover from injury and illness? And who even gets to move to space in the first place?

Off-Earth includes interviews with experts in ethics, sociology, history, social justice, and law to launch a hopeful conversation about the potential ethical pitfalls of becoming a multi-planet species—and, ideally, to shed light on similar problems we presently face here on Earth.

Space settlement is rapidly becoming ever more likely. Will it look like the utopian vision of Star Trek? Or the dark future of Star Wars? It’s up to all of us to decide.

Praise for Off-Earth

“Off-Earth should be required reading for anyone who dreams about living in space.” —Science News

“Imaginative and captivating… Brilliant and thought-provoking, Off-Earth will not only challenge your assumptions about future worlds, but will change your understanding of the values and desires that shape the world today.” —Foreword Reviews

“Off-Earth will amaze you: On nearly every page, it will have your jaw dropping in response to mind-blowing revelations and your head nodding vigorously in sudden recognition of some of your own half-realized thoughts… [It’s] really, really good.” —Ars Technica

“Nesvold aims to spark discussion, and her knack for identifying thorny quandaries will undoubtedly do so… Nesvold’s timely warning is bolstered by nuanced ethics and her careful attention to how colonization has historically been accompanied by injustice and violence. This raises hard questions that deserve serious consideration.” —Publisher’s Weekly

“This well-researched and accessible book is for general readers or those interested in the philosophy of science or the ethics of space travel.” —Library Journal